Criminal Law

American criminal law-although rooted in the common law-is nearly exclusively statutory. Most state penal codes draw heavily from the American Law Institute's Model Penal Code, first introduced in 1962. These penal codes exist: (1) to forbid and prevent conduct that causes or threatens substantial harm to individual or public interests, (2) to give a fair warning of the conduct proscribed and the punishments to be executed, (3) to safeguard conduct without fault from criminal condemnation, and (4) to differentiate on reasonable grounds between serious and minor offenses. Crimes are generally grouped according to the interest being protected. Most penal codes include the following categories: security of the person (i.e. homicide), security of the habitation (i.e. burglary), security of property interests (i.e. theft), public health and safety (i.e. littering), and public justice (i.e. bribery). Criminal law also covers inchoate crimes, which include attempt, solicitation, and conspiracy.

Because the power to punish crimes is reserved primarily to the states, federal criminal law is limited to proscribing and punishing those crimes specially related to federal interests: crimes involving conduct in more than one state, crimes committed on federal property, and crimes against certain federal officers. The most heavily prosecuted federal crimes include drug, immigration, and weapons offenses. Title 18 of the United States Code sets forth both federal crimes and the federal rules of criminal procedure. Most states' rules of criminal procedure closely model the federal rules. The Sentencing Reform Act of 1984, 18 U.S.C.S. §§ 3551-3580, ushered in dramatic changes in sentencing procedures under federal criminal law. The Act prescribed detailed sentencing guidelines and severely restricted determinate sentencing. During the same period, states enacted numerous mandatory sentencing guidelines. Current trends in criminal law include the reintroduction of more judicial discretion into the sentencing process.